Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Fog of War (Rumors, Propaganda and Just Plain Bullshit) of the Day -100: The Excelsior newspaper (Paris) reports that the German crown prince totally died last December. It’s been a while since one of these rumors.

More Fog: The German consul in Chicago, Baron Kurd von Reiswitz, gave newspapers an affidavit from one Robert Meyer, who says he enlisted in the British army and while he was in hospital in Ostend after sustaining a wound in Rheims in September, saw German soldier prisoners who had been mutilated – 3 whose eyes were gouged out, 3 tongues, 2 ears – at least 4 of whom were mutilated by British soldiers. The British ambassador responds that there is no record of such a person and points out certain problems with his timeline and other errors, such as there being no 14th Company of the Grenadier Guards, the unit he claimed to have been in, no British troops in Rheims in September, etc.

Birmingham, Alabama arrests Hiram De Laye, a newspaper/magazine distributor, for selling a copy of a newspaper published outside the state which contains a liquor ad, which is illegal under the state’s new strict prohibition law.

In Illinois, women have the vote in local and national elections but not state ones. This means they have separate ballots from men, so you can actually determine the gender differences in voting. Yesterday’s primaries show they don’t vote with their menfolk, but are more Democratic. And 900+ women in Chicago’s 32rd Ward, the NYT says, were “deceived by a political trick,” voting for a black barber named W.W. Taylor, who didn’t even know he was running for alderman, someone having submitted papers for him so he’d be confused for the popular W.A. Taylor. Ah, Chicago politics.

Headline of the Day -100: “Germans Forbid New Belgian Millinery.” Women have been wearing Belgian soldiers’ caps, and the German occupiers are not best pleased.

The New Jersey Legislature passes a bill permitting the appointment of policewomen. Whatever is the world -100 coming to?